The design is deliberately simple: a hosted control plane over a server you own, with a native runtime and no required containers.
The parts:
- Control plane: hosted by DollarDeploy; orchestrates builds and deploys, holds no lock on your app.
- Data plane: your server, in your provider account.
- Runtime: native systemd services on Linux by default; Docker Compose optional.
- Ingress: managed reverse proxy plus HTTPS via Let's Encrypt.
- Delivery: GitHub repo -> build -> your server, with deploys on push and one-action rollback.
- Interfaces: web UI, CLI, API, and an MCP server.
- Databases: managed PostgreSQL, Redis, MongoDB, MariaDB on your server.
Why it matters: no Kubernetes and no required container layer. Native systemd is the differentiator, lower overhead and faster deploys, with Docker available when an app needs it.
Go deeper: running Node.js apps as systemd processes and how we do atomic deploys.